1970 Royale RP3 - complete but needs everything!

[Craig71188]

Historic FF Royale RP3. Needs full restoration, but complete. Roll bar attachment/frame area needs repair. Motor is locked. There are a few spare parts and a set of magnesium minilite style wheels included. No logbooks, but some period photos & documents included.

Purchased from an estate situation for a retirement project, but focus has changed (going to stick with 2.0L stuff).
Lots more pics here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/qpv4u...=lxuhtavr&dl=0

$4800
Car is in Columbus, OH

[Bill Schmidt]

She has a little patina to her. Be a fun project for someone with time on their hands.

[jrh3]

She has a little patina to her. Be a fun project for someone with time on their hands.

and likes to weld…

[Lotus7]

As has been said in several other related threads, this one needs to be a labor of love, as you'll have WAY more in it than its worth when done; hope that guy's out there somewhere :-)

[Mark_Silverberg]

A couple of comments

While this car needs some love there are a couple of remarkable things about it.

1) The radiator duct (piece that fits behind the radiator to route air out nose) is near perfect - these rarely survive in these cars.

2) Radiator itself looks to be in good shape - the original rp3's had the oil cooler on driver's right side of radiator - which this cars has -also very rare to survive.

3) Chassis appears to be 53. At this time Royale set chassis number by cars built total. First year for RP3 was 1970. First RP3 was chassis number 43 so this would have been the 11th built in 1970.

4) Although the nose has a major crack it is still in remarkably good shape.

5) The engine side mounts appear to be original - this is quite remarkable as they were prone to cracking.

6) most parts should be available except for the rear brake disks- They were from some production vehicle and were re-drilled for the RP3 - No one has been able to identify the original vehicle. You will need to have custom rear discs made if they can not be salvaged.

7) still has the original front dry sump tank - oil originally ran in the frame rails. Some cars added an extra tank running horizontal in front of the engine on the return line to avoid starvation under braking.

8) As i recall there was an brace for the top of the engine bay - this appears to be missing.

Overall one of the most original RP3's I have ever seen.

[Bill Manofsky]

My first FF in 1985 was an RP-3A Serial #5. I wouild really like to find that car.

[Craig71188]

How much for it?

Asking $5000 - price got jumbled up in the photos - fixed original post

[scorp997]

Installed engine mount is not original, this one is made of plate steel while original ones were cast magnesium. There is a broken original mount in the spares box. I broke several of these on my RP16 before remaking them in steel.

the top engine yoke does appear to be missing. The stock one is quite difficult to install. It MUST be located on the engine prior to lowering into the chassis, it is made that tight.

rear uprights/hubs are desirable, but not enough to part for $5k. This would have to be a labor of love..

A couple of comments

5) The engine side mounts appear to be original - this is quite remarkable as they were prone to cracking.


8) As i recall there was an brace for the top of the engine bay - this appears to be missing.

Overall one of the most original RP3's I have ever seen.

[Craig71188]

Mark / John,
Thanks for the insights into the car. I suppose I really need to dig out / lay out all the stuff in the totes to see if by chance the brace is there. I wasn't able to get a straight answer as to when the father who passed last drove the car. There were a few old photos from Nelson Ledges, and some other misc paperwork, but unfortunately, no logbook(s).

[pooch776]

I am just finishing up the restoration on this RP3 chassis #49. Waiting on the bodywork which is at the painters.

Good Luck to the future owner of chassis #53.

Cheers, Joe

[Brad Smith]

My first FF in 1985 was an RP-3A Serial #5. I would really like to find that car.

My first car was in 1984, also an RP-3A, forget what the serial number was. I knew nothing about running a FF and it showed! The engine bay brace would not be hard to fab and adding a heim joint would ease installation. Mine had oiling problems and I wonder if not having the front dry sump tank made that worse. It always handled pretty good though!

[SP3]

Just saw it on FB Marketplace (while looking for unrelated things, of course). Would love to do a ground up on it.

[Mark_Silverberg]

Installed engine mount is not original, this one is made of plate steel while original ones were cast magnesium. There is a broken original mount in the spares box. I broke several of these on my RP16 before remaking them in steel.

the top engine yoke does appear to be missing. The stock one is quite difficult to install. It MUST be located on the engine prior to lowering into the chassis, it is made that tight.

rear uprights/hubs are desirable, but not enough to part for $5k. This would have to be a labor of love..

I stand corrected on engine mount. My eyes are getting old and it looked like a cast part to me - if a magnet sticks to it - not original.

[frededwards]

What was the difference between a RP-3 and RP-3A?

[Rick Iverson]

Craig, check your PMs.

[Craig71188]

What was the difference between a RP-3 and RP-3A?

I am assuming is was more evolution than revolution as far as revisions, but do not know. Perhaps the "more knowledgeable" Royale folks will weigh in?

[Craig71188]

Bump for new price...pretty firm.